Louis Quilico
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Louis Quilico (January 14, 1925 - July 15, 2000) was a Canadian baritone, known as "Mr Rigoletto."
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[edit] Biography
Louis Quilico was born in Montreal, Quebec, of an Italian father and a French-Canadian mother. He studied singing as a youth with Frank H. Rowe in his native Montreal while singing as a solo chorister in a church choir. After winning a prize in 1947, at the urging of the pianist and vocal coach Lina Pizzolongo (who was to become his first wife in 1949), he continued his studies in Italy, studying at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Teresa Pediconi and famous baritone Riccardo Stracciari. With the aid of a scholarship he also studied at Mannes College, New York, with Martial Singher (voice), Ralph Herbert (staging) and Emil Cooper (repertoire). and at the Conservatoire in Montreal where he worked with Singher. Quilico made his professional debut in 1954 as Rangoni in "Boris Godunov" with the Opera Guild of Montréal. He won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air in 1955 and made his New York debut with the New York City Opera, singing Germont in "La traviata" on October 10, 1955. Years later, in 1970, he sang the role of Nottingham in the famous Tito Capobianco production of "Roberto Devereux" opposite Beverly Sills, Plácido Domingo and Susanne Marsee.
On the international scene, Quilico made his debut in 1959 at the Spoleto Festival in the title role of Donizetti's "Il duca d'Alba." He made his debut at Covent Garden in London in "La traviata" opposite Dame Joan Sutherland in 1960, and remained a member of that company until 1963. He sang Rigoletto in his debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, in 1962. In 1963 Quilico made his Paris Opéra debut as Rodrigue in "Don Carlos." He was a member of the cast for the premiere of the opera "La Mère coupable" by Milhaud, in Geneva in 1966. He also appeared regularly at the Vienna State Opera and the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires.
In Canada, Quilico performed regularly with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, debut as Iago in "Otello" in 1960; later roles were Rigoletto, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Germont, Amonasro in "Aïda," Scarpia in "Tosca," Enrico in "Lucia di Lammermoor," etc. He also made several appearances on CBC notably as Macbeth (opposite Marisa Galvany) in 1973. Quilico also sang at the Stratford Festival, the Vancouver Opera, and the Opéra du Québec. He sang his last Rigoletto at the Opéra de Montréal in 1991.
Throughout the 1970s he performed in various centres in the United States, including San Francisco ("Luisa Miller"), Philadelphia ("I puritani"), New Orleans ("Manon"), Baltimore ("Tosca"). He partipated in concert version of rare operas with the American Opera Company with Eve Queler at Carnegie Hall, notably "Gemma di Vergy" and "Parisina d'Este" opposite Montserrat Caballé. Quilico reached the Metropolitan Opera in February 1972 when he replaced at short notice the scheduled Golaud (Thomas Stewart) in "Pelléas et Mélisande." His official debut there took place on January 1, 1973, as Germont. Quilico was to appeared in "Don Giovanni" in 1987 opposite his son Gino Quilico, also a baritone, a performance notable for being the first ever of a father-son in the same opera at the Met.
Quilico was also active as a teacher. He taught at the Faculty of Music of the University of Toronto, 1970-1987, at the McGill University in Montréal, 1987-1990, and at the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts, 1995-2000 and the Glenn Gould School, Toronto. In 2000 his widow Christina Petrowska Quilico created the Christina & Louis Awards Fund at the Ontario Arts Council which gives awards to emerging young singers.
With that second wife, pianist Christina Petrowska-Quilico, he embarked on a new phase of his career. Quilico also continued his solo operatic career, performing "Rigoletto" for the last time in Ottawa in September 1994 with Opera Lyra (his 510th performance of the role). Quilico's appearances at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1990's included several of "Pagliacci" as well as "Rigoletto," "Tosca" and "Adriana Lecouvreur". He celebrated his 25th year at the Metropolitan Opera in 1996-97, and retired from that company in 1998. Analekta issued the Compact Disc, "Mr. Rigoletto: My Life in Music," to commemorate the baritone's 75th birthday, and Captus Press released the 2nd edition in 1998 of "Mr. Rigoletto: In Conversation with Louis Quilico."
[edit] Personal life
Quilico married his first wife Lina Pizzolongo in 1949. Pizzolongo died in 1991. She was the mother of his son Gino Quilico. The couple also had a daughter. Quilico married his second wife, concert pianist Christina Petrowska, on November 30, 1993.
Louis Quilico died on July 15, 2000, in Toronto, Ontario, as a result of complications following a knee operation.
[edit] Discography
Donizetti, "Maria Stuarda," with Sills, Eileen Farrell, Stuart Burrows, conducted by Aldo Ceccato, 1971.
Bellini, "I puritani," with Sills, Nicolai Gedda, Paul Plishka, conducted by Julius Rudel, 1973.
Massenet, "Thérèse," with Huguette Tourangeau, conducted by Richard Bonynge, 1974.
Massenet, "Esclarmonde," with Sutherland, Giacomo Aragall, Tourangeau, conducted by Bonynge, 1975.
"Two of a Kind," with Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano, 1996.
"Chants Francais et Russes," with Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano, 1998.
"Vocal Gems" (live from New York), with Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano, 2003.
"Mr. Rigoletto: My Life in Music," with Christina Petrowska Quilico, piano and various orchestras, 2000
"The Most Happy Fella," by Frank Loesser, with Nancy Shade, 2000
